WASHINGTON (AP) – A court-martial is the next step in the military’s case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for five years and freed in a controversial exchange for five detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
Bergdahl, 29, of Hailey, Idaho, walked off his post in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province on June 30, 2009. He was released in late May 2014 as part of a prisoner swap that touched off a firestorm of criticism, with some in Congress accusing President Barack Obama of jeopardizing the safety of a nation by exchanging five Taliban detainees at the military prison in Cuba for Bergdahl.
Bergdahl’s attorney, Eugene Fidell, said Monday that a high-ranking officer charged with deciding whether evidence warrants a court-martial did not follow the advice of a preliminary hearing officer.
Lt. Col. Mark Visger had recommended that Bergdahl’s case be referred to a special court-martial, which is a misdemeanor-level forum. That limits the maximum punishment to reduction in rank, a bad-conduct discharge and up to a year in prison.
“I had hoped the case would not go in this direction,” Fidell said.